By Andrew McIntos
Sacramento Bee
Copyright 2007
SACRAMNTO, Calif. — The director of the state Emergency Medical Services Authority has resigned, months after his agency’s attempts to overhaul state rules for emergency medical technicians were sidelined.
EMSA Director Cesar Aristeiguieta confirmed Friday that he’ll be gone by Dec. 31, telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a resignation letter that he needs to focus on his family and its “financial future.”
Aristeiguieta, a rising star in Republican circles, is returning to work as a doctor with a private company in Los Angeles after only 2 1/2 years in the high- profile post.
Dan Smiley, a deputy director, will take over until the governor appoints a successor to the $200,000 a year post in the new year, said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Sabrina Lockhart.
Aristeiguieta, who drew fire earlier this year after a series of articles in The Bee highlighted his resource-starved agency’s weak enforcement of paramedics statewide, said he wasn’t forced out and wasn’t quitting over budget cuts or thwarted reforms.
“I’m definitely not leaving because I’ve received any political pressure, and it’s not disappointment or lack of fulfillment,” he said. “It just seemed like a good time to transition back to the private sector.”
Aristeiguieta is joining Emergent Medical Associates, a Manhattan Beach-based company that supplies a dozen Los Angeles area hospitals with doctors on short notice. He will be Emergent’s director of emergency medical services and also will treat patients.
Aristeiguieta oversaw an effort to strengthen and improve patchwork county regulations for 70,000 emergency medical technicians. It resulted in a bill that was gutted and amended by legislators before going to the governor.
After critics said the bill was flawed and would make it harder to punish rogue EMTs, Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
The director’s sudden exit surprised some in California’s tight-knit emergency medical services world.
“I’m going to miss him and his leadership,” said Dan Burch, San Joaquin County’s emergency medical services administrator. “He was a strong patient advocate.”
Others, however, said they weren’t surprised, having feared Aristeiguieta might quit after the administration rejected his attempts to add enforcement staff.
Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, said the governor must take Aristeiguieta’s departure seriously and hire a replacement who can revive and complete reforms.
Vulnerable patients must be protected from rogue rescuers with criminal backgrounds or substance abuse problems, Ashburn said, adding, “All it will take is one incident, and everybody will have regrets about our failure to act.”